Monarch chief to address Airlines UK

Monarch chief executive Andrew Swaffield will deliver the Airlines UK Annual Lecture on October 4, a year after the carrier secured £165 million in funding from owner Greybull Capital which staved off potential collapse.

The Monarch Group is due to renew its air tour operator’s (Atol) licence at the end of September, a process the CAA delayed last year pending an agreement on funding.

Monarch required Atol cover for seat-only sales at the time, but this no longer applies and Swaffield told Travel Weekly: “There is no risk to the Atol renewal.”

Swaffield has dismissed suggestions the airline is in trouble again after group accounts for the year to October 2016 showed pre-tax losses of £291 million. He blamed this on a write-off of the costs of the carrier’s current lease arrangements.

Monarch is due to take delivery of the first of 45 Being 737 Max aircraft next March and will replace its entire existing fleet over three years.

Swaffield said: “We pulled all the costs into one set of accounts.”

He described it as “the last legacy of the old Monarch” and said: “Monarch’s business will be so much more profitable with the new aircraft. There is a £100-million benefit on the bottom line.”

The carrier has also engaged consultants to review its route network and recently announced the appointments of former Emirates executive Richard Jewsbury as chief corporate development officer and former Travelzoo Europe president Richard Singer as Monarch Holidays managing director.

Swaffield will address the Airlines UK event at the Deloitte head office in central London on Wednesday October 4 at 4pm.

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